Screening of Marko A. Kovačič’s film/video opus from 1983–2021
Screenings, exhibition and talks
Tuesday, 28 February 2023, 9 pm
Slovenian Cinematheque, Miklošičeva cesta 28, Ljubljana
PROGRAMME III
A program of film works by Marko A. Kovačič, which derive from the author’s new-wave and expressive performances, the dramaturgical performative dynamics of the Ana Monro Theatre or the humorous epic of the music-visual group Zlati Kastrioti. Thematically, they encompass the author’s recognizable motifs and visual image, everything from shifting identities, erotica, politics and psychoanalysis to the satirical genre exploration of the detective story with an intertwining of the personal and the artistic.
The screening will be introduced by media theorist dr. Melita Zajc.
Marko A. Kovačič, Slovenia (Yugoslavia), 1983, Super8, colour, 13’30”
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The author’s first work is an experimental miniature that addresses the basic building blocks of film and dissects and explores the moving image and medium of film. The body is a painter’s canvas, geometric figures are mise-en-scene, performance is a study of movement, masking and disguise.
Marko A. Kovačič, Slovenia (Yugoslavia), 1984, Super8, colour, 4’37”
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A genre counterpoint of personal and public, of provocation and seduction, which is read precisely between these cracks.
Marko A. Kovačič, Slovenia (Yugoslavia), 1985, Super8, colour, 20′
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In the manner of crime movies, hide and seek, the film moves between the genres of detective and horror and around the mysterious microfilm. It is also characterized by a touch of burlesque. It represents the atmosphere and image of its time on the Ljubljana alternative scene of the 1980s. Part II was shown as a prequel to the Ana Monro Theatre’s performance of The Red Beam.
Marko A. Kovačič and Ana Monro Theatre, Slovenia (Yugoslavia), 1984, 16 mm, b&w, 5′
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The film with two main characters (Inspector Shwake and Doctor Marek) tells about the gracelessness of war, the manufactured causes and the attempt to change the course of events and prevent the war. The film was originally screened as part of the Ana Monro Theater play of the same name.
Marko A. Kovačič and Ana Monro Theatre, Slovenia, 1993, digital format (shot on U-matic in Beta SP), 12’20”
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The happening takes place in the real environment of Mrs. Salendrova’s half-destroyed apartment and presents a kind of visual record of the performance of the Ana Monro Theatre. The film is made up of various gags of Monro’s eccentric protagonists, who differ from the boring but at the same time cruel collapsed walls and urban environment with their bizarre appearance and gestures.
Marko A. Kovačič and VIS Zlati Kastrioti, Slovenia, 2004, digital format (shot on mini DV), 29′
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A film in the genre “the silent musical” was originally screened with live music (VIS Zlati Kastrioti). It creates a Kastrioti story about a mother who leaves her children to their fathers due to a stormy spirit, unspoken love and the realization of the truth.
Photo: SCCA-Ljubljana archive
Programme at the Slovenian Cinematheque (December 2022 – March 2023)
6 December 2022 / 24 January / 28 February / 23 March 2023
The programme prepared by: SCCA-Ljubljana and Slovenian Cinematheque
Curators: Barbara Borčić, Peter Cerovšek
The programme of Marko A. Kovačič‘s artistic opus with screenings, an exhibition and accompanying programme is being prepared in cooperation with the Slovenian Cinematheque. We keep his works in the archive of DIVA Station and have been systematically researching them recently, as the artist is one of the important representatives of film and video creativity in Slovenia. From now on, Kovačič’s film and video opus will also be stored in the archives of the Slovenian Cinematheque.
For the first time, Marko A. Kovačič’s works will be comprehensively put on display and for consideration by experts and the general public, as well as the younger generation, who may not yet be familiar with them. Short films and video works are rarely shown here in cinemas or on television, more or less they can only be seen at festivals (e.g. FeKK short film festival and V-F-X Ljubljana festival of experimental audiovisual practices). The program, which will also be partially accessible on the Slovenian Film Database (BSF) online, will take us through Kovačić’s forty-year opus with screenings once a month from December 2022 to March 2023, which includes narrative, performative, experimental and documentary works, from the early analog on magnetic tape (VHS, U-matic, Beta) to later digital formats.
Coproduction: SCCA-Ljubljana/DIVA Station and Slovenian Cinematheque
Partners: RTV Slovenija, Baza slovenskih filmov (BSF)
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and City of Ljubljana – Department for Culture
